Pastor Mike's Corner

After a long wait, our messages (sermons) are making there way back on line. You can find five of some of our more recent messages...including "A Message from Hell," on our church web site.

I was rather hard on the UAW on an earlier post. Let me offer a fair and balanced critique on the auto dudes—this time, the CEOs. It’s rather disgusting to see these fat cats come begging for money in a private jet that cost over 20 grand to run. Fly coach next time! I definitely don’t want to hear some fat cat CEO, making over 20 million a year, cry that the little people wont give a little on their health care plans for the sake of the company when the leaders wont equally suffer. Let me ask the CEOs something: Why should the nation pay for something you're not even willing to sacrifice for. To save Chrysler, Lee Iaccoca worked for a buck a year. That man was a leader, and when he said, “let’s cut back…” you knew that was coming from a guy who cared about the survival of the company.

Leaders that wont suffer for those that follow, simply aren’t leaders. I want the auto industry to survive. We, as a nation, need the auto industry. We ought to get a couple of guys/gals in the leadership position who'd be willing to die to make it work.

Hey, on another note...lookie here: Hillary is going to take the Sec. of State job. Praise! Now we got a lady serving who actually saw combat (you know, that sniper fire thing). :) (I couldnt resist)

Let me share an interesting thought that has been bantered around here lately: The Christians obligation to participate in government affairs. Follow the logic here. The scriptures say, “Everyone must submit himself to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established.” (Romans 13: 1) The American government that God has established is one that is ran by and for the people. That is, the government system demands that its units participate, shape, and direct the direction of said system. If we are to be obedient to Romans 13: 1, then, we, Christians, should participate, shape, and direct the direction of this government.

The idea that Christianity should stay out of government affairs is neither a Christian concept nor an American concept. Point: Engage your world. Be Salt.

I learned a valuable and costly lesson early on. I had a business that went under. I did everything that I could do to keep that thing afloat. I pumped dollar after dollar into it. I borrowed as much as I could to make the thing live. Eventually, after borrowing way too much, the business died.

Here’s the lesson that I learned. It’s just plain stupid to spend cash or invest or borrow on a bad business. I was inexperienced and had a horrible business model and every dollar that I spent was just delaying the inevitable. Even worse, when the business did fail, I was even more in debt then I would have been if I just let it go early on.

This is exactly what’s happening with this possible auto manufacturing bailout. These auto dudes are asking for billions of dollars for one of the worst business plans ever created by a Union. The UAW has strong armed these businesses into spending way more per employee then the market was going to pay—and now, they want the taxpayer to supplement them. The government is their last hope. They (auto dudes) talked to the UAW and the union isn’t going to budge. The Union has already made too many concessions. Yeah right. Here’s another concession they need to make: All employees loose their jobs because the business plan strong armed by the Union causes a loss with each car sold.

Spend as much tax dollars as you want, it’s not going to help. Eventually, a bad business model will once again run out of resources…only with more and more debt. Change the model before one tax dollar is spent.

Lee Strobel, Inside the Mind of Unchurched Harry and Mary

Part of your hesitation in proceeding might stem from your own uncertainties
about Unchurched Harry and Mary. You may wonder whether you really understand them well enough to know how to lovingly, tactfully, and powerfully bring them the Gospel. After all, it may have been quite a while since you’ve lived a secular lifestyle—if you’ve ever lived one at all.

You may have found that since you’ve become a Christian, your unbelieving friends have drifted away as you’ve become increasingly involved in the social network of the church. It has been said that within two years of becoming a Christian, the average person has already lost the significant relationships he once had with people outside the faith. Without frequent heart-to heart conversations with unchurched people, it’s easy to forget how they think….

Frankly…some of my best friends are, in reality, hell-bound pagans, and I am impassioned about wanting to see them transformed by the same amazing grace that radically redirected my trajectory of my own life.

Shocking title: The sin of congregational rule. Let me explain. We live in a nation that values representative leadership. We elect our leaders, and if those guys and gals fail, we fire them. What’s happening now in America is a testimony to this. What’s the buzz word in American politics? Change! Politicians don’t even have to say where they want to take us, just by presenting their selves as an instrument of change is enough to galvanize the masses. And, lets face it, if the previous leader failed, why not fire him/her?

From business to sports teams, representative leadership is the American paradigm. Don’t like the leader? Is the organization dying under their leadership? Remove him/her from the position and put in a leader that will move the organization. Of course even in congregational ruled churches we have this mentality. That is, if the church is failing, they will fire the pastor.

Now here’s my problem with this: Congregational ruled churches are often the polar opposite of a representative ruled leadership. The congregation as a whole makes the decision on which direction they are going to go and they direct the leadership. Only if the congregation makes bad decisions are they willing to go back to the representative paradigm (that is, fire the leader for the bad decisions the congregation made).

Furthermore, congregational ruled churches are ruled by the majority. What’s wrong with that? Well, if you have been to church lately, you might notice that a majority of people are not being led by the spirit, or in the bible, or gifted with leadership, or following God’s guidance. The majority can be wrong. It creates divisions and factions.

The church needs to be ran by leaders (not only is this a representative paradigm, and an operational paradigm, but it is biblical). These leaders need to be held accountable (for their theology, walk, and fruit). These leaders need to take responsibility for their failures. If they fail as a leader, remove them. That sounds hard! Well...you know that the church is responsible for bringing the wisdom of God (that is, the gospel that is found in Jesus Christ) into the world. To not do so is a sin (for the church). The body of believers would bend over backwards to kick a pastor out who was preaching against the trinity. They would fire that leader if he were having an adulterous affair. Why? Cause this is sin. Is it not even more of a sin not to be bearing fruit in the church? Fire the leader. I assure you, God will also hold the leader to a higher account.

Now many will think this is harsh…and that’s why only those called to be leaders should be leaders. Not the masses that are not even willing to take responsibility for their bad decisions. Not the masses who refuse to immerse themselves into the Holy Scriptures. Not the masses who are not led by the Spirit. We need to be led by the Spirit led man/woman/child. Read 1 Corinthians 2.

Now before you loose your mind, I'm not saying that you cant lead. Just do so the right way: Get into the scriptures. Improve your relationship with God. Be full of the Spirit. And if God calls you to the position of leadership: Lead.

On a positive note, I do believe its very possible to be in a congregational ruled church and still have leaders leading the way. Direction and movement is a lot slower, but its possible. You simply have to guide the whole to make the spiritual decision...sometimes before its even brought up. The problem with this, of course, is that necessary immediate decisions cannot be made. This can lead to disaster even the movement was an immediate necessity.

Here's my op piece: Click Here

Here's PG's: Click Here

A couple of things…

Christians,

It’s o.k. to say an item is evil if in deed it is evil. I get so sick and tired of people misquoting Jesus and saying that we shouldn’t judge. Amen…we’re not to judge. We’re not to sentence a person to hell. Jesus didn’t stop there though. He said that “in the same manner you judge, you too will be judged. You hypocrite. First deal with the plank in your own eye…then you can help your brother out with his speck.” (rough translation from memory) That’s a prescription on how to deal with sin…not a command to be blissfully unmoved by it in other’s lives. Furthermore Jesus goes on to say to look at people’s “fruit.” To do that you must be able to say that some things are just wrong. I would go on to say that some actions are down right dangerous to all of society and must be aggressively dealt with in a very public manner.

Second, and I get hit on this over and over, it’s o.k. to be a masculine and a Christian (minister). In fact, we need more men to step up to the plate and defend those who cant defend their selves. We need more men to step up to the plate and say things are wrong (see above). We need more men to stand against those people promoting bad ideas and do what we can to prevent them from ruining our society as we know it. When I aggressively attack a bad idea, it doesn’t mean that I’m acting “un-pastor” like. For goodness sakes read the bible and see the millions of examples of ministers stepping up to those promoting bad ideas and saying, “this far and no further!” See Note below.

All this must be done out of love, but love is not a behavior that is automatically absent of conviction, assertion, and justice. Acting in love does not mean one has to act in a submissive behavior…a behavior that walks on egg shells, fearful of offending another. We never resort to violence, but always willing to stand on godly and biblical principles.

Note. Many ministers have adopted a feminine attitude in order to appeal to their female listeners. As the men have left and the women have stayed, ministers have adapted their style to only reflect feminine attributes. Females love this. Unfortunately as more and more ministers have gone this route, more and more men are fleeing the church. Feminine attributes are good (and yes good for both men and women to display), but so are masculine attributes. We must not buy into this idea that masculine attributes must be abandoned. I assure you, show me a minister who has masculine traits (as well as compassionate, forgiving, and so on), and I will show you a congregation with other men and women present. A minister displaying masculine attributes attract both sexes where a minister that only displays feminine attributes will repel men.